AllFreeNovel
Share Us
TWENTY-SIX
Matthew
Noelle had only left my house that morning and I already missed her as I pulled to the Portland airport to pick up Tessa. She was finally coming to visit me during her Spring Break from NYU. Unfortunately for me, our break schedules hadn’t lined up, but she assured me she was fine to hang around my house with Snowball while I was teaching or had to do stuff on campus. More than anything, though… I was excited to have her here, for her to get a chance to meet Noelle, and I hoped she would like her as much as I did.
Because I wasn’t sure what I would do if my baby sister didn’t like the girl I had fallen so hopelessly for. And maybe I wasn’t quite there yet—wasn’t ready to call it love, wasn’t ready to tell her the full extent of what was in my heart, but I knew it was there. I knew it from the way my heartbeat around her—steady and true, but always for her. I could feel it in the way she felt so right in my arms—like she was made to be there.
I found her, blonde hair tied up into a messy bun, standing waiting for her luggage to arrive. “Tess!” I smiled, wrapping my arms around my little sister in a big hug. “I’m so glad you’re here.” Her wavy blonde hair was tied back in a bandana, and it hit me how much she looked like our mom. I got a little choked up, just looking at her.
“Hey big bro! I’m glad this worked out,” She pulled out of the hug to look for her bag on the carousel, but she must have noticed my face because she shot me a look. “What?”
“Nothing.” I cracked a smile. “Just thinking about how much you remind me of mom.”
“Oh.” Tessa gave me a soft smile followed by a little shove. “Well, stop that. You’ll make me cry, and I don’t want to ruin my mascara.”
“Fine,” I sighed, standing behind her as she waited for her bag. When it finally appeared, she pointed at it, and I grabbed it for her.
“Ready to go?”
“Oh yeah. And I can’t wait to meet this Noelle I’ve heard so much about.”
Had I talked about her that much? Maybe I had. “I can’t wait for you two to meet,” I said. “I really like her, Tessa. Like, really.”
Tessa laughed. “I know, big bro. Now come on and drive me to your house. I want to see that puppy I got you.”
“Fair warning, she’s a lot bigger now than when you saw her last. Not really a puppy anymore.”
“I was counting on that,” she smiled, pulling up the handle of her suitcase. “Let’s go.” Trailing behind her, we walked towards the parking garage and back to my truck.
I couldn’t wait for Noelle and Tess to meet, honestly, and I was hoping they would hit it off. Because if everything went the way I hoped it would, they would be sisters one day.
And that thought brought a stupid smile to my face.
~ ~ ~
I shouldn’t have been so nervous for my little sister to meet my girlfriend, but the fact was—I was absolutely terrified. I had never introduced her to anyone: the girls I had dated had either been for too short of a time, or I hadn’t been serious about them anyway, so why would I bother?
It was nothing like what I felt for Noelle. And, because of that, it was incredibly important to me that Tess liked her. Because my sister had always been the most important person in my life, the one I had made so many decisions for, the person who I had tried to protect from everything. That was—until Noelle. My little fox had burrowed her way into my life, snuck under my defenses and found a way to snuggle herself in close—right next to my heart. So yeah, I was nervous.
And even after spending two days with my sister, taking her around Portland when I wasn’t in class and doing things we used to do as kids, I couldn’t help but wish that Noelle had been with us. As I got ready for breakfast that morning, I realized that I wanted her with me, now, wanted her to have been curled up around me last night. Because once I had gotten her in my bed, I found that I hated her not being in it. I was addicted to her—her sight, her touch, her taste—and I wanted to be around her all the time. I wanted to buy beach-front property on Noelle Hastings, so she was the first thing I saw every morning. So I could live every day with her wrapped in my arms. I wanted to cook for her, wash her hair, and tuck her in bed next to me every night.
And as much as I loved Tess, I didn’t know what I would do if she didn’t like my girl.
On the ride to the restaurant—one of Noelle’s favorite breakfast cafés—we passed the time by talking about Tessa’s classes, the boy she had been seeing, and her life in New York. The one topic we seemed to skirt around was her plans for after graduation, and I could tell it was bothering her, not knowing where she was going with her life afterward.
“I’m proud of you, you know.” I finally said, leaning over to ruffle her hair.
“Matthew!” Tess shrieked, trying to flatten her hair back down. She narrowed her eyes at me. “I’m not ten years old anymore. Stop doing that.” She slugged me in the shoulder—hard, though I supposed she could have hit me a lot harder if she wanted to. “I was trying to look nice to meet your girlfriend, you know.”
I shrugged sheepishly. “Sorry, little sis. I can’t help it. Sometimes it’s hard to remember you’re all grown up and don’t need me anymore.”
“Matthew.” She frowned. “I’ll always need you; you know that right? Ever since we lost Mom and Dad—”
“I know.” I cut her off, and Tess just sighed next to me.
“We can talk about them, you know. We never do. I know you miss them as much as I do…” She trailed off.
“I can’t, Tess. It’s still…” I just shook my head. It’s too hard.
